Try some Edith Wharton, if you're in a mood. I like her better than Henry James, except "The Turn of the Screw."
I adore Edith Wharton, but I've already read everything of hers. Well, almost anyway.
I'm not sure if I would ever be in the mood for The Odyssey.
I first read The Odyssey in college, and it really is a riveting story, AmyLiz! Just like with Beowulf, you have to get the right translation, otherwise it can be a slog to get through. The Fagles is excellent--IIRC, he just published a translation of The Aeneid in the past few months.
I read The Odyssey for fun a few years ago. I had it on the bus one day and was snickering over some snark, and somebody in another seat asked me what class I was reading it for. They looked uneasy when I told them I was reading it for fun. The same kind of look when I was reading "Engines of Creation" on the bus. Freak the mundanes!
Banville's The Sea
Corwood, have you read any of his other stuff? It's the same but more.
Dude, you haven't seen? Did you ever read the story Beatrice Palmato?
(Not where the porn is, but related)
(Not where the porn is, but related)
But ... but where *is* the porn? I mean, there *really* is porn?
::still boggling::
Do you know which story collection "Beatrice Palmato" is in?
There is really porn -
I can't find Palmato on the web, and I don't remember what collection it was in. I kind of hate to go further without linking. But.
Palmato: (warning - the acutal is
so
much better than my snapshot here)
It's a really kind of beautiful story about this girl who meets and marries the love of her life. They have a very nice life, but she's always a little neurotic. Years go by. They have a daughter.
Her family comes to visit. Her father kisses her daughter on the cheek. Beatrice freaks out and, the next morning, shoots herself in the head.
All of that is the public story.
Wharton (like, I imagine, a lot of writers,) wrote out scenes that were in the past and not a part of the story. A charatcter study, giving explanation about the actual story. So.
The porn will be in the next post.
Corwood, have you read any of his other stuff? It's the same but more.
I haven't. I just got this one because Maud Newton raved about it on her blog for nearly a full year.